Honestly, that's why I'm boarding in three chalices now...they are almost forced to take a chalice over a lord or something else...the name of the game against DS is to SLOW THEM DOWN and MAINTAIN BOARD STATE...they are already doing most of the work by wrecking their own life total...all you have to do is connect one or twice and you win...I also think that given their weak mana base, Kira is also something we should be considering. If they have to waste two removal spells on her, they're already in a bad spot.
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"I hope to have such a death—lying in triumph upon the broken bodies of those who slew me."
—Radha, Keldon warlord
Hey all, I'm running an eight seas version of Merfolk and I always wondered. When you play against a mono colored deck, burn, soul sisters, monogreen stomps, etc. is it best to keep keep all your seas? Or side part or all of them out since we aren't really gonna mana screw them?
I have been running under the idea that I side out the sea's claims because they don't replace themselves and it's only for the islandwalk and card draw. Is this still correct or should I side out the spreading seas since the sea's claim is cheaper and I can play more spells that way?
Depends on the deck. Burn and Stompy rely heavily on colored mana to function, so I would keep them in. I would side out the Claims against Sisters, since the only card that is very W-intensive is Spectral Procession.
Hello Rothgar! I usually speak Nikachu and with Petr Sochurek, and I have been playing merfolks for a couple of years. I have had success both before as also now, yet I would like to ask for your opinion on some cards and matches as I consider you know the philosophy pretty well.
These are the merfolks that I played last Sunday on a MTGO ptq finals. Missed the top8 by tiebreaks and ended up in 9th place Nevertheless, I have made 5-0 thrice since then.
What do you think of this list? (the one in the link) What would you change if any?
I have a ptq this Sunday and I'm not completely sure on the sideboard.
Eldrazi and Taxes plus Death's Shadow seem to be the toughest matchups. What do you side in those matches?
I'm not sure about Hurkyl's Recall. It's 4 slots, and here there isnt that much affinity nor lantern.
What do you think about Sea's Claim? I also tried yesterday pithing needle but seems it's not worth it. All I know is that Liliana, the last Hope is a terrible headache.
I am a longtime adherent of Sea's Claim, so I would swap it for those Hurkyl's Recalls. The reason why Death's Shadow and Eldrazi are problematic for you is because you need an extra dose of land hate. Sea's Claim provides that. Everything else looks fine, though I'm a tad skeptical of the Glen Elendra Archmage (4 mana is a lot), and I am typically most comfortable with an Echoing Truth or two in my sideboard.
I have been running 4 vapor snag and 4 gut shots in my 75 anoyone else tested this much? I am curious if I can just replace dismembers with gut shots and be fine. I am also on a heavy land destruction/spreading seas plan. my 75 looks something like this. I am fairly new to merfolk and this is sort of where my list is at the moment. Any tips weakness that you all see would be greatly appreciated.
I have been running 4 vapor snag and 4 gut shots in my 75 anoyone else tested this much? I am curious if I can just replace dismembers with gut shots and be fine. I am also on a heavy land destruction/spreading seas plan. my 75 looks something like this. I am fairly new to merfolk and this is sort of where my list is at the moment. Any tips weakness that you all see would be greatly appreciated.
There are two major flaws in this sideboard right now - non-instant bombs (basically anything Titanshift, Tron, or control decks play) and not having graveyard hate. I'm actually testing 4 Relic of Progenitus right now because there are SO many decks that use the graveyard. Unified Will or Negate can fix the non-instant bomb problem, but you also need at least 2 Relics.
Nissa was just recently spoiled though o.o And all the lists I've seen try vial with Coco rather than Hierarch.
I was thinking that Nissa seems worth testing with, and that including hierarch/coco might be worth revisiting. Plus there's a better reclamation sage in the new set that may improve affinity and lantern.
I have been running 4 vapor snag and 4 gut shots in my 75 anoyone else tested this much? I am curious if I can just replace dismembers with gut shots and be fine. I am also on a heavy land destruction/spreading seas plan. my 75 looks something like this. I am fairly new to merfolk and this is sort of where my list is at the moment. Any tips weakness that you all see would be greatly appreciated.
There are two major flaws in this sideboard right now - non-instant bombs (basically anything Titanshift, Tron, or control decks play) and not having graveyard hate. I'm actually testing 4 Relic of Progenitus right now because there are SO many decks that use the graveyard. Unified Will or Negate can fix the non-instant bomb problem, but you also need at least 2 Relics.
I considered the non instant bomb problem and thought my basic solution to that problem is to slow them with land destruction and just race them "going off" I really dislike 2 mana counters in this deck other then remand and I'm not sure remand is where I want to be atm. The dispels are more for countering tempo loss plays like fatal pushes, bolts, that sort of stuff. What are you guys using the relics for in this deck? Death Shadow Jund? Living End? Dredge? I'm all for some gy hate but the sideboard slots in this deck seem to shrink more then other decks. My plan against dredge is to just go bigger then them is that a bad plan? Living end I have no plan so maybe I should, perhaps the dispels should be unified wills though the 2 mana bothers me lol.
Dismember should I be on this? I love the fact mutavaults can pay for its cost but what is it killing that gutshot cant take care of that is really annoying to our play?
Nissa was just recently spoiled though o.o And all the lists I've seen try vial with Coco rather than Hierarch.
I was thinking that Nissa seems worth testing with, and that including hierarch/coco might be worth revisiting. Plus there's a better reclamation sage in the new set that may improve affinity and lantern.
Not sure how you play Nissa AND coco in the same deck. you'd also have to cut Master of Waves and probably play kiora's follower.
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Modern U Merfolk U WUBRGPeopleGRBUW U Turbo Turns U UB Fae BU WBG Aristocrats GBW
The graveyard hate is for lots of decks - anything with Kitchen Finks, Knight of the Reliquary, Snapcaster Mage, or Tarmogoyf is eligible, as are dedicated graveyard decks such as Dredge, Living End, or Storm. I think you'll find that it's one of your best cards in these matchups, if not the best card overall. All of the graveyard decks are very consistent, and they're usually somewhat resilient to interaction. Dedicated hate goes a long way toward making those matchups more tractable.
You're right in thinking that 2-mana counterspells aren't ideal (that's why you sideboard them in), but a couple of them are necessary if you plan to face Anger of the Gods, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, or Primeval Titan. Unified Will also pulls double duty against combo.
Lately I have been doing some changes to my deck as of late and I would like some feedback about how my mainboard looks and more importantly, my sideboard.
Taken Out
-2 Unsubstantiate
They did the same thing that Vapor Snag can do and also bounce spells on the stack incase I really needed to. The biggest downside was that it costs 1U instead of Vapor Snag just being only U.
-1 Sea's Claim
One of the big changes I am doing is making them sideboard and importantly more of them.
-1 Harbinger of the Tides
These guys are usually the first ones I side out whenever I need to bring answers in. Don't get me wrong, this creature is super good and has saved me quite a bit by vailing him in during my opponents combat phase.
Added In
+2 Vapor Snag
As stated above, Does the same thing but costs less mana to cast and can have the up side in hurting my opponent if I use it on a creature they have.
+1 Pongify
My deck needs spot removal and I didn't want to loose 4 life with having Dismember. Blue has kill spells that can get rid of problems quite well such as Pongify and Rapid Hybridization, and dealing with a vanilla 3/3 green creature can be better than a bigger threat to us. Tidebinder Mage can stop the 3/3 green creature if needed.
+1 Tidebinder Mage
The meta as of lately has really shifted towards heavy green creature presence in Modern and having 1 mainboard Tidebinder Mage can really help make things easier.
Sideboard changes:
Taken Out
-2 Echoing Truth
Sometimes this helped me against decks that have a lot of permanents that were problems but aside from that, I rarely used it.
-2 Spell Pierce
Our deck doesn't really need that many counter spells to win matches in which our opponent can't really stop us with Aether Vial on the field. Having one in sideboard is good enough for now until we need to make a change.
Added In
+4 Sea's Claim
Land hate is really good in our deck and it just destroys some decks by cutting them off proper colors of mana such as Death's Shadow decks that need B producing sources and against decks that really like to get fast mana quickly like Tron, just very good for us to stop them.
All in all, that was a brief explanation of some of my changes to my deck. I'm open to all suggestions! I want to hear all critiques!
Sorry for asking too much im just new to Merfolk. Is Fatal push/iok/thoughtseize/collective brutality worth it for the black splash. My meta has a lot of Deathshadow and i just dont know how to deal with their creature
I don't think so - Vapor Snag and Echoing Truth have been doing just fine for me. Those cards push the deck into more of a midrange direction, and we don't have the powerful individual cards to really be a strong midrange deck. You need to tempo Death's Shadow out with bounce, and make their plays awkward with land hate (for the Jund version) or countermagic (for the Grixis version).
Not sure why would Sweltering Suns see play when Anger is cleaning all the trash (Finks, Voice, Dredge stuff...)?
Enigma Drake is just bad.
What does Soul-Scar Mage do in Modern Burn and what would it replace?
Amonkhet has few charms but Kaladesh seems more fun in my book.
I got completely wrecked last night at my LGS against Cheeri0s... I was wondering how we play against this matchup? Do we have to mulligan down until we have a dismember? And after SB, do we hold up a dispel and wait for the retract?
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Decks Modern UGWRB Humans G Mono-Green Tron UWBR Ad Nauseam
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—Radha, Keldon warlord
I have been running under the idea that I side out the sea's claims because they don't replace themselves and it's only for the islandwalk and card draw. Is this still correct or should I side out the spreading seas since the sea's claim is cheaper and I can play more spells that way?
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/613707#online
These are the merfolks that I played last Sunday on a MTGO ptq finals. Missed the top8 by tiebreaks and ended up in 9th place Nevertheless, I have made 5-0 thrice since then.
What do you think of this list? (the one in the link) What would you change if any?
I have a ptq this Sunday and I'm not completely sure on the sideboard.
Eldrazi and Taxes plus Death's Shadow seem to be the toughest matchups. What do you side in those matches?
I'm not sure about Hurkyl's Recall. It's 4 slots, and here there isnt that much affinity nor lantern.
What do you think about Sea's Claim? I also tried yesterday pithing needle but seems it's not worth it. All I know is that Liliana, the last Hope is a terrible headache.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
1 Oboro
4 Mutavault
15 Island
Creatures
4 Lords of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Cursecatcher
3 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Master of Waves
4 Meerow Reejerey
4 Aether Vial
4 Vapor Snag
1 Sea's Claim
4 Spreading Sea's
3 Dispel
2 Tidebinder Mage
4 Gut Shot
2 Echoing Truth
1 Kira, Great Glass Spiner
3 Tectonic Edge
Been tried - not as good as plain ol' Merfolk. There are some reports on the thread to that end.
There are two major flaws in this sideboard right now - non-instant bombs (basically anything Titanshift, Tron, or control decks play) and not having graveyard hate. I'm actually testing 4 Relic of Progenitus right now because there are SO many decks that use the graveyard. Unified Will or Negate can fix the non-instant bomb problem, but you also need at least 2 Relics.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
I was thinking that Nissa seems worth testing with, and that including hierarch/coco might be worth revisiting. Plus there's a better reclamation sage in the new set that may improve affinity and lantern.
I considered the non instant bomb problem and thought my basic solution to that problem is to slow them with land destruction and just race them "going off" I really dislike 2 mana counters in this deck other then remand and I'm not sure remand is where I want to be atm. The dispels are more for countering tempo loss plays like fatal pushes, bolts, that sort of stuff. What are you guys using the relics for in this deck? Death Shadow Jund? Living End? Dredge? I'm all for some gy hate but the sideboard slots in this deck seem to shrink more then other decks. My plan against dredge is to just go bigger then them is that a bad plan? Living end I have no plan so maybe I should, perhaps the dispels should be unified wills though the 2 mana bothers me lol.
Dismember should I be on this? I love the fact mutavaults can pay for its cost but what is it killing that gutshot cant take care of that is really annoying to our play?
Not sure how you play Nissa AND coco in the same deck. you'd also have to cut Master of Waves and probably play kiora's follower.
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
Snapcaster Mage, or Tarmogoyf is eligible, as are dedicated graveyard decks such as Dredge, Living End, or Storm. I think you'll find that it's one of your best cards in these matchups, if not the best card overall. All of the graveyard decks are very consistent, and they're usually somewhat resilient to interaction. Dedicated hate goes a long way toward making those matchups more tractable.
You're right in thinking that 2-mana counterspells aren't ideal (that's why you sideboard them in), but a couple of them are necessary if you plan to face Anger of the Gods, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, or Primeval Titan. Unified Will also pulls double duty against combo.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
4 Aether Vial
Creatures (29):
4 Cursecatcher
3 Harbinger of the Tides
2 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of Waves
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
3 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
1 Tidebinder Mage
4 Spreading Seas
Instants (3):
1 Pongify
2 Vapor Snag
Lands (20):
2 Cavern of Souls
11 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Wanderwine Hub
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Gut Shot
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Sea's Claim
1 Spell Pierce
3 Tidebinder Mage
The changes I made was as follows...
Mainboard changes:
Taken Out
-2 Unsubstantiate
They did the same thing that Vapor Snag can do and also bounce spells on the stack incase I really needed to. The biggest downside was that it costs 1U instead of Vapor Snag just being only U.
-1 Sea's Claim
One of the big changes I am doing is making them sideboard and importantly more of them.
-1 Harbinger of the Tides
These guys are usually the first ones I side out whenever I need to bring answers in. Don't get me wrong, this creature is super good and has saved me quite a bit by vailing him in during my opponents combat phase.
Added In
+2 Vapor Snag
As stated above, Does the same thing but costs less mana to cast and can have the up side in hurting my opponent if I use it on a creature they have.
+1 Pongify
My deck needs spot removal and I didn't want to loose 4 life with having Dismember. Blue has kill spells that can get rid of problems quite well such as Pongify and Rapid Hybridization, and dealing with a vanilla 3/3 green creature can be better than a bigger threat to us. Tidebinder Mage can stop the 3/3 green creature if needed.
+1 Tidebinder Mage
The meta as of lately has really shifted towards heavy green creature presence in Modern and having 1 mainboard Tidebinder Mage can really help make things easier.
Sideboard changes:
Taken Out
-2 Echoing Truth
Sometimes this helped me against decks that have a lot of permanents that were problems but aside from that, I rarely used it.
-2 Spell Pierce
Our deck doesn't really need that many counter spells to win matches in which our opponent can't really stop us with Aether Vial on the field. Having one in sideboard is good enough for now until we need to make a change.
Added In
+4 Sea's Claim
Land hate is really good in our deck and it just destroys some decks by cutting them off proper colors of mana such as Death's Shadow decks that need B producing sources and against decks that really like to get fast mana quickly like Tron, just very good for us to stop them.
All in all, that was a brief explanation of some of my changes to my deck. I'm open to all suggestions! I want to hear all critiques!
WBC Eldrazi and Taxes
WCopter and Taxes
CVIAL is layf
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
WBC Eldrazi and Taxes
WCopter and Taxes
CVIAL is layf
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Yes I will. I really like this deck. At first it looks linear, jam all lords and hope for the best, but it's not. Far from it
WBC Eldrazi and Taxes
WCopter and Taxes
CVIAL is layf
Enigma Drake is just bad.
What does Soul-Scar Mage do in Modern Burn and what would it replace?
Amonkhet has few charms but Kaladesh seems more fun in my book.
Modern
UGWRB Humans
G Mono-Green Tron
UWBR Ad Nauseam